Cyclone
Cyclone is an installment in the SOU Chronicles franchise. It is chronologically the earliest installment in the series as well as the first title in Season 1. Cyclone tells the story of Angel Briggs and several allies facing off against a strange entity causing a murder spree in Chicago. Setting Cyclone is set mainly in Chicago, Illinois in December of the year 1998. As Angel Briggs and Mark Windhelm arrive in the city, a couple of murders occur, concerning the police force. Chicago is heavily covered in snow during this time. Plot Summary Chapter 1: Welcome to the Windy City December 23, 1998: Chicago, Illinois: In December of 1998, two young men named Angel Briggs and Mark Windhelm have been stranded in the deep snow outside of Chicago when their car broke down. While Mark works to find the problem in the vehicle, Angel reflects on his past: born on January 20, 1979 in Scarborough, Maine, he was kidnapped from his family by a man named Flint Connor in 1990 and taken to New York City. He had managed to kill his captor and began living with Mark and his family; in 1996, Angel had faked paperwork to go to college with Mark, studying history and forensics for two years. In the present, Mark fails to find the issue in the car, and the pair decides to walk out to Chicago itself to find help. Once in the city, they visit the police station, where Angel is violently questioned by an officer named Sylvia Winters. Once she learns that Angel is from New York, she apologizes, telling him that a few high-profile murders had occurred in the past weeks and the police were on edge. She leaves Angel her number in case he finds anything and departs. Angel and Mark find a hotel, and Angel realizes Mark is strangely anxious. They sleep for the night. Chapter 2: First Contact December 24, 1998: Chicago, Illinois: The following day, Angel awakes to find Mark missing. He leaves the hotel, checking by the police department to see if their car had been found. It had, and Angel realizes Mark must have gone out to retrieve the items he had buried in the snow before the police went out to the car: an heirloom LeMat revolver and a packet of cocaine. With Mark out, Angel goes out to find a place to eat, ending up in a small diner. While eating, Angel looks out the window at one point to find a strange man watching him. Angel takes a moment to ask a waitress about him, but during that time, the man disappears. Confused, Angel departs the diner, unable to find the man. Instead, he stumbles upon Mark, who had returned to the city. Angel decides not to mention the man, and the two instead return to the diner to eat. During the meal, however, Angel thinks about what Sylvia said, now fearing for his life. Mark tells Angel that he had bought tickets for a concert in Chicago the next day; Angel hesitantly agrees to go. Chapter 3: Personal Stake December 24, 1998: Washington, D.C.: In the FBI headquarters, Agent Ethan Hunt is on the phone with Sylvia in Chicago. She asks him to come down to help her, but he declines, busy with FBI work. He leaves a brief note on files for his partner, new agent Kate Ross, and leaves the building, meeting up with Lou Goodwin, a newer but very prominent agent. Ethan and Lou go out to a local bar, where Ethan gets another call from Sylvia. While he initially tries to shrug her off, Sylvia tells him that his brother was murdered that night, striking him and causing him to depart the bar. Ethan has Lou cover all of his cases and packs to go to Illinois. On the way to the airport, Ethan calls his boss, Gerald Smith. Smith authorizes Ethan’s case, allowing him to leave the capital. Chapter 4: Christmas Crisis December 25, 1998: Chicago, Illinois: Back in Chicago, Angel and Mark are spending Christmas at the concert the latter had promised. They discover Sylvia there, whom Mark had not met yet. Angel introduces them, leaving out the information on Sylvia’s occupation, as Mark had a fear of the police. Mark takes Sylvia out to get drinks while Angel is approached by an attractive woman. She invites him backstage, and Angel takes him up on the offer. Backstage, the woman begins seducing Angel, but is interrupted by a sudden gunshot. Angel throws off the woman and runs out to find the source of the noise. He finds a man in a suit, dead on the floor with a gun in his hand. The woman, Alice Rikes, reveals it to be the band’s manager, Christian Keaton. While she initially believes him to have committed suicide, Angel discovers small puncture wounds across the body, and decides that the gunshot was done to make it look like suicide. Sylvia quickly arrives on the scene, with Mark distraught upon discovering her occupation. Sylvia states that Angel and Alice would be wanted for questioning, as they had been on the scene and Angel’s DNA was now on the body. Sylvia kisses Mark and takes Angel and Alice away. Chapter 5: Under the Cover of Darkness December 25, 1998: Chicago, Illinois: At the police station, Angel is being questioned by police. He and Alice make their case, and Sylvia points out that some of the backstage rooms had been under surveillance. The cops pull some of the footage, finding that Angel and Alice had, indeed, been occupied at the time of the killing. However, they also discovered that the room the manager had been murdered in had been taped. The video shows a tall, dark figure entering the room, approaching the manager, and killing him in an indiscernible manner. The figure then shoots the body in the face, fleeing the scene. Angel realizes that the figure is the same he had seen at the diner, though doesn’t mention it. The police allow Angel and Alice to leave and they part ways, Alice leaving her number with Angel. Angel, grabbing some food, returns to the hotel for the night. When he tries to enter, he is greeted by Sylvia, who informs him that he may have to find somewhere else for the night. Angel departs, slightly exasperated but more humored. Walking along the streets, Angel finds himself by the diner he had eaten at. It turns out to be very close to the murder scene earlier that night, and he looks in through the window to where he had been sitting. He discovers that there had been a door directly behind him that the man might have been looking at. Angel quickly picks the diner’s lock, getting in and entering the kitchen from the door. He follows a path outside, onto the rooftops, and down into the room where the manager had been murdered. He discovers a similar path out of the room, leading to a giant building. Angel takes note of the address, calling up Alice. She invites him over and gives him her address. With that, Angel leaves the scene to meet her. Chapter 6: Crashed December 26, 1998: Chicago, Illinois: The next day, Angel is awakened by Alice, having slept with her the previous night. She brings him to the door, where Mark is waiting. He reveals that Sylvia had left early to work, and he figured Angel would be here. Angel leaves with Mark, strolling through the city when they find themselves by the huge tower Angel had found the previous night. He asks Mark about it, but he doesn’t know anything. As they’re leaving, Angel sees a man in a dark trench coat with an obscured face observing the building, much like the mysterious killer. Angel quickly pushes Mark into a taxi, taking them out to a bar. Angel notices the improvement in Mark’s overall mood, jokingly asking about Sylvia. Mark reveals that, despite her occupation, he really likes her, and was willing to try anything at this point. They reach the bar and go in where they find Alice working as the bartender. Angel talks to Alice a lot, noticing that she’s too young to be working there. She points out his lack of drinking, guessing correctly that he’s also too young. Alice tells Angel about her troubled past and rough family. Before Angel can tell her about his, Mark gets involved in a fight, forcing Angel to step in and help him. Alice takes off work, helping Angel get a beaten Mark back to his hotel room. They call Sylvia to help Mark, and Angel takes Alice back to the bar. On the way, they again pass the huge business tower, and Angel asks Alice about it. She tells him that it’s the headquarters of the Cyclone Corporation, a big technology business in Chicago. The building was called the CyCorp Tower. As they pass by, Angel again sees the dark figure outside of it. He ignores it this time, simply returning to Alice’s place. She invites him in, and he spends the rest of the day there. Chapter 7: The Operator December 27, 1998: Chicago, Illinois: Angel visits Mark’s apartment the next morning, finding Sylvia and telling her all about the dark figure he had been seeing, as well as mentioning that he thought it would try and kill someone in the CyCorp Tower. Sylvia, though frustrated with Angel’s hesitation, decides to go check on it. Angel, meanwhile, helps Mark, who had begun suffering from cocaine withdrawal. Angel reluctantly gives Mark the drug, leaving to go meet up with Alice. Out of anxiety and nerves, Angel takes Mark’s LeMat revolver. While at the bar Alice works at, he is tormented by the same people who had attacked Mark. Before a fight can break out, the situation is calmed by the arrival of the dark figure from the CyCorp Tower, who turns out to be Ethan Hunt of the FBI. He reveals he had come to question Alice about Keaton’s murder on Christmas, but would love to speak to Angel as well. Ethan mentions that, while he had been watching over the Tower recently, he hadn’t been there the previous day. Angel, alerted, tells him about Sylvia, and the two run to the Tower to help her. When they reach it, Angel discovers a path to the basement from outside, where they find Sylvia battling the strange figure. During the fight, they discover it to have no face but a white plate; when Angel shoots it with the LeMat, they find it to be robotic. Once hit, the creature escapes, leaving Sylvia with a grave wound. The pair is forced to leave and take Sylvia to the hospital. Shortly after reaching the hospital, they learn that the creatures had moved on to mortally wound the vice president of Cyclone, Liam Heinz. He is brought into the hospital, and Ethan asks him about the creature. Heinz calls it “the Operator” before dying. Ethan takes Angel and a squad of police back out to the CyCorp Tower to secure it from the Operator, who is confirmed to have fled the scene after a thorough search. Ethan, heaving unofficially taken on Angel as his partner, meets up with Cliff Ridge, Cyclone’s president and CEO. He states he knows nothing of the Operator, and isn’t sure why Heinz would’ve. Ethan remains on-site and tells Angel to take his leave, letting him know that Ridge will be moved out to a safehouse on the outskirts of Chicago. Angel runs by Mark’s apartment, telling him about Sylvia and the Operator. Mark rushes out to see her, and Angel goes to meet up with Alice. He tells her about everything that’s happened, and she decides to take Angel back to her home to relax. He mentions that Ethan had discharged him from the case to prevent any danger from falling upon him, but Alice points out that the Operator had already seen him. Angel decides to return to the Tower the next day. Chapter 8: Coming Undone December 28, 1998: Chicago, Illinois: True to his word, Angel arrives at the CyCorp Tower, finding it strangely empty. Moving through the building armed with Mark’s LeMat, he finds many of the police impaled, their organs spread around. The Operator attacks Angel, almost killing him. Alice enters and blasts the Operator with the revolver, which Angel had dropped. The beast flees out of the Tower, immediately followed by Angel. Alice takes a gun from one of the dead cops, joining him. Outside, Angel sees the trail it left in the snow, following it up onto a rooftop. However, it escapes, making it out of Angel’s sight. Angel and Alice remain on the rooftop to figure out what to do. Angel realizes that the bullet wound he had given the Operator in their previous encounter had vanished and he guesses that it must have someone who repairs it. Alice decides that they should wait until the Operator makes its next move. Angel and Alice go to Mark’s hotel, where his withdrawal symptoms have gotten worse. Angel gives him more drugs, but he appears to have become somewhat paranoid now as well. Angel and Alice head back to her place, where Angel calls up Ethan. He tells the agent about the massacre at the Tower and his theory about the Operator. Ethan lets Angel know that Sylvia has greatly improved in condition, and that he knows where the Operator may strike. He tells Angel that they had uncovered a list of targets that the Operator seemed to be following, and that Chicago’s mayor, Jack Waters, was next on it. Ethan asks if Angel really wants to be involved in the case, and the younger man emphatically says yes. Ethan decides to call out Angel to Mayor Waters’ speech the next day. Chapter 9: Second Threat December 29, 1998: Chicago, Illinois: Angel meets Ethan at the speech the next day, and they lay out their surveillance plan for the ceremony. Ethan recommends that, after the murder incident is wrapped up, Angel should join the FBI. To their surprise, Sylvia shows up, ready for action. The speech starts off without a hitch, but after a while, Angel notices the Operator setting up a sniper rifle. Angel quickly gets to its location, attacking the monstrosity. The gunfire alerts the mayor and his staff, and they manage to get to safety. Ethan and Sylvia join Angel in fighting the Operator, and the trio manages to wound it pretty severely. When the beast escapes, Ethan follows it to see where it gets repaired; Angel and Sylvia are distracted by additional gunfire from an unknown source. To their horror, they find Mark, having gunned down the mayor and seemingly gone insane. Sylvia sadly takes him into the station, leaving Angel shocked and alone. He returns to the CyCorp Tower, still covered in corpses. There, he finds a monitor tracking the Operator, and realizes that it’s heading towards the location of Cliff Ridge, hiding out in a small shack. As midnight hits, Angel goes out to find Ridge. Chapter 10: Revelations December 30, 1998: Chicago, Illinois: In the early hours of December 30, Angel reaches a small shack on the outskirts of Chicago. Breaking in, he finds Ridge, seemingly having had a psychotic break. Ridge reveals that the Operator functions by sucking the consciousness from a human “proxy,” functioning like a battery. This consciousness gave the Operator the ability to be pseudo-sentient and efficiently logical. As the Operator continues to drain his human proxy, he gains more control of them, eventually being able to use them as a puppet extension once the original human mind had been vacated. If left unchecked, the Operator could very well make the entire human race its slave. Angel realizes that Mark, suffering from withdrawal, had become weak enough for the Operator to make him its proxy, which was why he had gone insane and killed Waters. Ridge tells Angel that the Operator was indestructible save from a self-destruct sequence, which could be initiated by carving a sign onto its blank face. Before Angel can learn the sign, the Operator itself breaks in, trying to kill Ridge. Angel tries to fight it off with Mark’s revolver, but cannot for long, and the Operator manages to fatally stab Cyclone’s CEO. As he dies, Ridge uses his blood to paint a symbol on the floor: a circle with a cross through it. Ethan arrives, having followed the beast. As they fight the creature, Angel explains the self-destruct sequence and how to implement it, guessing that Ridge’s illustration is the necessary sign. Ethan, recognizing their losing position in the fight, rushes up to the Operator with a knife and begins the carving. The Operator impales Ethan, who manages to finish the job. The Operator, severely wounded, flees the scene, and Angel stays with Ethan, whom he realizes is dying. The agent reminds his partner of the offer to join the FBI before dying. Angel goes out to make sure the Operator is truly finished, following his trail in the snow. It leads Angel to a small shack housing a very advanced factory, where the Operator is repairing itself. Angel realizes that, since the Operator was still a computer at heart, it had to finish the restoration task before the self-destruct process, as it had been injured before the process had been triggered. Angel takes time to look around the facility, realizing that it had been owned by Cyclone. Angel discovers a series of video files, turning on a few of them. From them, he learns that the Operator was meant to be a top-notch assassin for Cyclone, but escaped before they could refine it. As such, the Operator targeted the most important people in Chicago, including Cyclone’s own employees. He also learns that Cyclone had received the Operator in parts from a company named Soldaten, though he’s not sure what to make of the discovery. Angel discovers a counter telling him that the Operator’s restoration will take roughly thirty hours, upon which time it will undergo its self-destruct process. Angel heads back into Chicago to wait out the time. Chapter 11: In the Meantime December 30, 1998: Chicago, Illinois: Angel arrives in Chicago at sunrise and finds Alice, telling her of the recent events. He decides to leave Chicago once the Operator is out of commission for sure, depressing Alice, who was determined to stay there with her job. After spending some time there, he goes out to find Sylvia, who is overseeing a now completely deranged Mark at the police station. He tells her about the Operator, the way it uses human proxies, and the demise of Ridge and Ethan. He also lets her know that Cyclone had been given the Operator by a company called Soldaten, and Sylvia promises to look into it. She tells Angel that they’ll be moving Mark over to a mental institution in Springfield the next morning, further cementing his decision to flee Chicago. Angel decides not to tell Sylvia about the repair facility where the Operator currently was, and goes out to Alice’s bar, where she happened to be working. For the first time, he drinks pretty heavily, which Alice notices. She pleads with him to stay, trying to persuade him that he’ll get better. She opens up to him more and tells him that he had been her first real romantic relationship for several years, but Angel turns out to be too drunk to really care. As night falls, Angel finds himself falling asleep in an alley. Chapter 12: One Last Time December 31, 1998: Chicago, Illinois: Angel awakes before sunrise with a massive hangover, covered in the night’s snow. He leaves the small alley, trying to make his way out to the Operator’s facility. On the way out to it, he realizes something is following him, but he fails to pinpoint who or what it is. At the facility, he finds the Operator nearly done with its repair process, and he tries to find a way to cure his hangover. However, he feels his pursuer’s presence, and tries to gun it down this time. Failing to hit anything, Angel simply slumps in a seat, his hangover overcoming him. Suddenly, the Operator awakens, and Angel’s hangover lightens up. As the hulking beast leaves the facility, Angel follows it. It goes notably far, at one point stealing a motorcycle to flee down the road. Angel does the same, staying on the Operator’s trail. Finally, it pulls up next to a police truck, and Angel recognizes it to be Sylvia driving. He figures out that the Operator, in order to kill itself, would need to cut off its proxy, its “battery.” It jumps off and attacks the truck, knocking it to the side of the road. Sylvia escapes and Angel stops, both of them trying to shoot the Operator down. It ignores them this time, ripping open the truck and pulling out Mark, who is laughing maniacally. The beast impales its proxy, killing it instantly. However, to Angel’s surprise, it turns on him, charging after Angel. Sylvia realizes that, in his depression over all of the death recently, Angel had become another of the Operator’s proxies. She encourages Angel to do what Mark couldn’t and hold on to the good things to push out the Operator’s invading conscience. He barely manages to do so, cutting off the Operator just as the beast stabs him. Sylvia uses snow to stop the bleeding and swelling of Angel’s wounds, and she gladly realizes that he’ll live. The Operator, now completely inactive, begins to disintegrate, leaving nothing but ashes. Sylvia calls in support, holding Angel tightly. Chapter 13: Wrong Turn January 1, 1999: Chicago, Illinois: Restored from his minor wounds, Angel says farewell to Sylvia in the police station. She informs him that Ethan had left a long report about Angel, which recommended him for the FBI. Angel smiles to himself, realizing that the agent had left him a lifeline. Angel departs, finding a Chicago having recently celebrated New Year’s Eve. He finally retrieves Mark’s car from the station, placing his friend’s LeMat revolver in a hidden compartment in the trunk. While doing so, he realizes that, in his derangement, Angel had carved the Operator’s self-destruct signal onto the gun’s handle. Angel gets his stuff from the hotel room Mark had gone mad in, packing them into the car and heading out of Chicago. While doing so, however, he loses concentration and accidentally finds himself back in front of Alice’s apartment. He initially intends to leave, though turns back, grabbing his bags and heading inside. Alice answers the door, having obviously been crying. She happily greets him, letting him inside. Characters *(*)First Appearance *(**)Mentioned Only Main Protagonists *'Angel Briggs*:' (1979 - ) a young man born in Scarborough, Maine and kidnapped away to New York City in 1990. He killed his captor, being adopted by Mark Windhelm's family. In 1998, the pair went on a trip out to Chicago to celebrate Christmas, becoming caught in a whirlwind murder scheme that puts his own life at risk. *'Ethan Hunt*:' (1972 - 1998) an FBI agent known throughout the Bureau for accomplishing several intricate cases. His brother, Max Hunt, was murdered in December of 1998, leading him to leave his partner, Kate Ross, and head out to Chicago to investigate the murders there. Unfortunately, he became a victim himself, leaving a note of reccomendation for his unofficial partner in the case, Angel Briggs *'Alice Rikes*:' (1980 - ) a poor woman known to hang around the bars and clubs of Chicago. A native to the area, she grew up in poverty with a torn-apart family, leading her to fall upon a rough lifestyle in her later years. She met Angel Briggs in a club and heard the murder of Christian Keaton alongside him, leading her to become involved in the ever-growing murder scheme in the city. She also started a real relationship with Angel, her first in a long time. *'Mark Windhelm*:' (1976 - 1998) a troubled man native to New York City, though not necessarily its friendlier side. Though he had trouble in school, he made it to college, where he spent two years with his adopted brother, Angel Briggs. He developed a serious cocaine addiction over time, and always held on to a Smith & Wesson Model 625 revolver owned by his parents. His drug addiction left his mind weak, making him an easy target for the Operator, who was searching for a proxy. *'Sylvia Winters*:' (1975 - ) a female police officer working in Chicago. She was one of the best officers in the force, and the primary cop working on the murder spree in the city. During her work, she met Angel Briggs, who introduced her to Mark Windhelm, her new boyfriend. She oversaw Mark when he began to become insane, at one point trying to take him to a mental institution in Springfield. Main Antagonists *'Operator*:' (1998) a strange robotic creature with a white plate for a face. It was responsible for the majority of the murders in Chicago during the '90s. It worked off of proxies like Mark Windhelm, who acted as "batteries" for its pseudo-sentient. The beast was finally defeated through the efforts of Angel Briggs and Ethan Hunt. *'Cliff Ridge*:' (1972 - 1998) the president and CEO of the Cyclone Corporation. He was murdered by the mysterious Operator, his own creation, during the "Cyclone massacre" in Chicago. Misc. Characters *'Lou Goodwin*:' (1973 - ) a male agent in the FBI who was good friends with Ethan Hunt. He covered all of Ethan's cases while the latter was in Chicago investigating the murders. *'Liam Heinz*: '(1960 - 1998) the vice president of the Cyclone Corporation. He was murdered by the mysterious Operator during the Cyclone massacre in Chicago. *'Max Hunt*:' (1974 - 1998) a Chicago-based police officer and the brother of Agent Ethan Hunt in the FBI. He was one of the victims during the Cyclone murder incident, causing Ethan to take up the case. *'Christian Keaton*: '(1963 - 1998) the manager of a band local to Chicago. He was murdered by the Operator in Chicago, a murder witnessed by Angel Briggs and Alice Rikes. *'Kate Ross*:' (1980 - ) a young FBI agent being personally trained in the field by Ethan Hunt, an older agent. He left her in Washington, D.C. to investigate the murders in Chicago. *'Gerald Smith*: '(1962 - ) the Director of the FBI during Ethan Hunt's time there. He was known for being very warm and friendly to his agents, allowing Ethan to go out to Chicago and take on his own case. *'Jack Waters*: '(1952 - 1998) the mayor of Chicago. He was murdered by Mark Windhelm, the Operator's proxy, during the Cyclone massacre in 1998. Appearances *(*)First Appearance *(**)Mentioned Only Factions *Chicago Police Department* *Federal Bureau of Investigation* *Cyclone Corporation* Locations *Washington, D.C., United States of America, North America* *Chicago, Illinois, United States of America, North America* Weapons *Beretta 92FS* *Cyclone Mk3 Veil Cutters* *FN P90* *SIG Sauer P226 Equinox* *Smith & Wesson Model 625* Trivia *Unlike most other titles in the SOU Chronicles franchise, Cyclone has very far-reaching effects. The story takes place in 1998, but the Operator, having been sent through time, is actually the prototype for the Secondary Signets that would become very important in Signet during the Superhuman War over two decades later, taking place in Deadbolt, Pt. 1: Severance and Deadbolt, Pt. 2: Remembrance. The Secondary Signets would be key in Deadlock gaining his powers by 2037, meaning Cyclone tangentally plays into the plot of Deadlock. Related Topics |-